england double

[shady77]

ok, if you read my thread about england v croatia, i predicted 3-1 and england won 4-1. not bad, heres my predictions for the kazakhstan and belarus games.
v kazakhstan:- 4-0
v belarus:- 2-0

[thered]

i dont think you will be to far wrong i think rooneys due a few good games on the belt and worked pretty well with heskey last time out

[shady77]

tbh, i was hoping to see crouchy as i believe the kazakhs will pack the box and a nice high ball might be what it takes to get the breakthrough. not taking anything from heskey as from all the people i have spoken to about him, i seem to be the only one that rates him

[andy4]

shady, excellent prediction but i do think belarus game will be a toughy
they might cause a few upsets (but don't think they'll qualify)
would be nice to see heskey score as he works hard for team
(not got blinkers on)

[thered]

tbh, i was hoping to see crouchy as i believe the kazakhs will pack the box and a nice high ball might be what it takes to get the breakthrough. not taking anything from heskey as from all the people i have spoken to about him, i seem to be the only one that rates him

to be honest m8 im his biggest critic but im also no fan of crouch i like my footballers to be er footballers and im no fan of hump it to the big man


but i think its time to wake up and change our thoughts and just play a system that works no matter whos in it so if it works with heskey or crouch so be it

we are not as good as we think we are player wise but with good organisation high tempo passing and closing down we should do ok

i like the start capello's made he is not interested in how to accomodate gerrard and lampard only which system works best i like his style hes got more balls than the last few


so hopefully we may have a new dawn

[thered]

well shady you wern't to far away a four goal cushion

but how bad were england 5-1 flattered them no end

i thought it was a new dawn but i was well wrong

4-5-1 formation at home against the mighty kazakstan whats all that about

midfield was non existent steven gerrard was toilet i watched him it took him 58mins to find a team mate with a pass

we have a pacy winger in wright phillips on the bench and rooney playing left wing heskey on his own doesnt add up(i know he changed at 1/2 time) but we were playing kazakstan at home we shouldnt need rooney covering wre not playing brazil

gerrard and lampard cannot play together
the midfields too unbalanced personally i would play gerrard even though he was the worst player on the pitch tonight

but either way one has to go for the good of the team

i thought there was only really heskey and ferdinand really to take any credit from the game rooney although scored 2 was about average rest of the team well below par 1 decent run from walcott that was about it

i think upsons played his last england game and what was ashley cole doing

the score flattered an really we won the game not because we outplayed them but we were better bigger and stronger from set plays after that they just capitulated

it needs a lot more work and the midfield needs sorting its a shambles

[Raven]

Gerrard and Lampard cannot play in the same midfield together it seems when they play together they both play shite, and by the way have we not got any better left backs than Ashley Cole ? My god what was he playing at tonight with THAT pass ?

But the midfield would be better served having Barry and Gerrard as starters and having Fat Frank come on later on for Gerrard......up front take your pick (I don't rate him normally but Defoe did well tonight 1 shot 1 goal) between Rooney, Owen, Crouch but I do think Heskey should have a role to play since everyone but him scores whenever he plays . Joe Cole is lock and key for left wing and right wing I'd say Walcott with Beckham to come on for him later on....Find a sub place for Wright Phillips to bring him on somewhere later on in the match.....Micah Richards a definite at right back (maybe even left back ?) and in defense obviously Terry and Ferdinand wherever possible.

Brown should not be in the team, in fact there's a few that shouldn't be there, Lampard should be on the bench as Gerrard and him don't work and Gerrard is the better player in my honest opinion and finally above all they should be playing the game at a higher tempo.

Tonight was disgusting though before Becks came on.....snails pace, zero movement in midfield and ashley cole....well....that pass just typified everything that's wrong with the team currently.

But I like Capello, I feel more comfortable with him in charge than McLaren or Sven....because you know Capello knows his stuff and has the nuts to change things.

[kryptic]

I would rather Lampard start and Gerrard sub,Gerrards ok at club level but shite in an England shirt,Stevie Wonder could have passed the ball better.

[Raven]

Shall I tell you what bugs me, it's that in friendlies they don't experiment enough.....like for example they don't experiment in trying Micah Richards at left back (appreciated he is right footed but so is Joe Cole who plays left wing brilliantly) they don't try different takes on formations as such like for example putting Wright Phillips just behind the front 2 and things like that - they don't even experiment with different styles of play or tempo it's just always the same old, same old.

I make no wonder England play crap half of the time because it seems they only have one tempo to play at (not the correct one either) and friendlies are obviously under utilized in terms of trying new things and possibilities to see what is a bad idea and a good one in practise.

I don't think it's a case of us not being as good as we think we are at all because had that been the case we would have one of the poorest leagues in the world and English clubs would win nothing. I think it's a case of our talent being under utilized for the most part....Gerrard and Lampard should be a match made in heaven but obviously just doesn't work in reality for whatever reason however Joe Cole is a revelation on the left wing (imagine if we never bothered trying to put him there to see if it worked or not) and we have potential breakout stars in Walcott and Wright Phillips among others....you don't become a bad player over night and so it's obvious that the talent is under utilized at international level, be it formation, personnel alongside or tempo....how else do you explain the footballers looking like totally different players as soon as they pull on an England jersey - it's not a confidence or form issue because if it was they would carry it on to the club performance or vice versa onto the england pitch. I think it's mostly the tempo of the game because the Premiership is 100 mph and that's what the English players are used to. It's not just the tempo it's other things aswell but I think it's mostly to do with tactics....just look at tonight Becks came on and changed the game pretty much.

[donnaandmark]

england predictions

england 4 - 0 Baliroius

[alec]

I think England's problems are: the crossing from the wings is abysmal.
Walcott is still a rough diamond, he needs to know when to pass the ball.
The passing needs to be more accurate and a lot slicker.
Heskey should be encourage, to turn with the ball a few times and go at their defence. We have the makings of an excellent team,we need the main core players, to play more together and add some polish to basics.
Even though Beckham, should be past his sell by date. Every time he crossed into the box, we looked like scoring.

[thered]

yeh m8 walcotts got all the potential in the world just needs to calm down a bit i dont like heskey but we do look better with him in the side defoe is only maybe good enough as a sub last 10-20 mins if your struggling and the other teams knackered


beckham will probably always be the greatest crosser the worlds seen but he is not good enough to play for england he was brought on against kazakstan and he looked great

but kazakstan were shot by this point and were already dead and buried they fell to pieces and they were kazakstan they are not a good team

beckham will always deliver a good ball but you cant have him starting game just because he can take free kicks and corners because the truth is against decent teams he cant get into the positions anymore to hurt teams and is largely a passenger

in truth beckam has been nullified as a threat by decent teams for years going back to his man u days in the champions league he is a one trick pony

if you stop the ball reaching him wide right he cant play decent opposition keep him at bay too deep to hurt anyone with his crosses

he may have a part late in games when things open up but as a starter he is definately not up to scratch

[thered]

well shady two results and both wrong but correct winning margins in both so you have not done too bad


have to say match yesterday was better than kazakstan but again midfield is lacking badly no cohesion at all gerrard scored a good goal but apart from his assist was very poor again

plus points rooney and heskey up front played very well and will cause a lot of teams problems they defend from the front and never stop running plus rooney has the quality to finish it off

all in all pleased a good three points away but midfield needs lets it down again

personally if fit i would use joe cole on left hargreaves and gerrard through the middle walcott on the right dunno about anyone else

try to keep rooney up the pitch near heskey and against the better teams you could use rooney a bit deeper in a five man midfield when you havent got the ball

bring on 2010

[shady77]

papers (daily mail) today talking about world class, dont know if id go that far but we at least looked like a team. hesky was superb

[Raven]

hesky was superb

Heskey should be in the first team come rain or shine because of the simple fact that he can be a genuine battering ram and also because his strike partner is almost guaranteed to net a goal thanks to Heskey working hard for the team.

He might not get on the scoresheet himself very often but Owen always scored when he was playing alongside Emile Heskey and I don't think it's any coincidence that Wayne Rooney has found his goal scoring touch (5 goals in 3 games - free scoring ?) in recent batch of games he has been playing alongside Heskey....how long was it before the recent games something like 2 or 3 years without a goal was it ? suddenly alongside Heskey for a short run of games he has 5 goals in the 3 games played ? It's no coincidence.

My biggest criticisms of England is that usually when watching us play it's like watching paint dry and it's predictable for the viewer and that's because we play at snails pace with no movement off the ball in midfield when we have the ball.....we have a tendency to pass it sideways making no progress whatsoever and finally in defence it's a calamity when we just back off players. I almost forgot that bit about messing about with the ball when in a crossing position instead of just whipping the ball in straight away.

There's promise there but we won't win anything any time soon if we insist on carrying on doing these things, when we actually start playing we look dangerous and that's because we are dangerous when we play properly. It's just 8 times out of 10 we haven't been.

It frustrates me though because it's always the same players mouthing off in the papers pre-match about this and that and yet these same players on the pitch play like dog shit and if it wasn't for the fact of seeing these certain said players week in and week out in the Premiership you would accuse them of talking the talk but not walking the walk...but we all know they can play. I just can't understand why we insist on boring football and not even doing the basics most of the time to be honest.

To end on a positive though, there is promise there if you look beyond the bs.....Walcott can be a cracking player for us, Wright Phillips is back playing regular again, Becks still has the cross and pass, Heskey is a proven goal for the strike partner scenario .....so it's almost there it just needs fine tuning.